Whilst the IMS ventured stateside during Coachella in 2012, this will be the first official one-day event at the W Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The aim is engage industry people and music fans in conversation about not only the music and where it is going today, and tomorrow, but also to discuss intergration of the likes of finance, technology, hip-hop and art. Of course, America is a major market for electronic music, and so a discussion on the direction it takes is an important one.
"IMS Engage is about elevating the status and positioning of the genre – bringing together people from electronic music, and the associated industries and creative cultures that are reaching in. It will show how far the genre has come and how far it is capable of reaching out." - Ben Turner
IMS Engage Schedule
Tuesday 16th April
19.00: W Hotels Worldwide Symmetry live performance by Foxes.
Wednesday 17th April
09.45-09.50: Welcome from Pete Tong & Ben Turner (IMS Partners).
09.50-10.00: Introduction from Bill Werde (Editorial director, Billboard).
10.00-18.00: IMS Engage
Patrick Moxey, from Ultra Music and President of Electronic Music for Sony worldwide will be in conversation with Russell Simmons who is one of leading architects of hip-hop, to discuss the parallels of electronic music with the hip-hop scene.
Amy Thomson (Manager, Swedish House Mafia) will be in conversation with Troy Carter (Manager, Lady Gaga) to talk about how they changed how an artist is managed in the digital age.
Skrillex will be in conversation with Jeff Rosenthal. Jeff is the man behind the Summit Series - a collection of talks on a wide variety of topics designed for the future entrepreneurs and leaders.
Diplo and Instagram Co-Founder Kevin Systrom will be in conversation.
Pete Tong will be in conversation with SFX Entertainments Shelly Finkel, and they will be exploring the US 'EDM' boom.
Matthew Adell of Beatport (who was keynote speaker at the 2012 IMS Ibiza) will be in conversation with Jaron Lanier who wrote 'You Are Not A Gadget' and 'Who Owns The Future'.
18.00-22.00: IMS Engage: Official Party in association with The Windish Agency.
